Red Thread of Fate
by Brandonia666
Summary: A simple school field trip. Seems easy enough. Board a plane. Go to the Land of Lightning. See new sights. Meet new people. Board another plane. Go home. Sadly, Naruto's life could never be described by the word easy. Still, a plane crash, a meeting, and a few kisses will make him understand the word fate if it kills him. (Mpreg, BoyXBoy, SasukeXNaruto)
1. Field Trip

**1: Field Trip**

* * *

Fate is a sociopath. She leads those she's chosen to play with down blind alleys and through hellfire. She's unforgiving and cruel. Fate is a sociopath jacked up with far too much power and intelligence. Yes, Fate is insidious, but while she often ends things in tragedy, she is not without mercy. If she sees she's dealt an entirely too unfair hand, she will rectify her misstep, usually by following up that selfish tendency with a beautiful ending. The righteous who die tragic deaths typically had forgiving lives, but those who become a piece of a beautiful whole, were the just that survived all the Hell Fate threw at them and remained themselves. Kind, loving, and courageous, few though they are, they've seen the side of the world that is wrapped in hatred and maintained their humanity fully.

Though, if Fate chooses to swing the pendulum back on them, enveloping her gifts with hardship, the results will either lead to an unbreakable form of all that is pure in humanity or an insane egoist who kills to feel alive.

 **.x.X.x.**

Sasuke had, in fact, not planned to be killed by a damned plane. If he was going to die, he wanted to go out fighting, but here there was absolutely nothing to fight against. He was strapped to the comfy, First Class seat he'd spent so much money on and all he wanted to do was rip his way out kicking and screaming like a small child in need of large amounts of candy. Once he was free he would curse fate itself as he descended to earth on obsidian wings which he was sure he could sprout if he tried hard enough... Okay, he'd definitely been reading way too much manga lately. Why the hell hadn't those mask things the flight attendant mentioned shown up yet?! He gripped the armrests and repeated in his head like a mantra, _Uchiha's are fearless. Never show emotions. Emotions are weaknesses we do not have._ Well, that was being proven false, big time. _Well, dad,_ he thought, an almost-smile reaching his lips and turning into a smirk, _I guess you can't be right about everything, now can you?_

As the plane descended and people screamed, he accepted his fate, absolutely positive that proving his father wrong, even if only in his own head, was enough to satisfy his soon to be dead heart... Nope, not enough. He didn't want to die trapped like a dog with his hammering heartbeat playing out the role of the soundtrack to his demise. He hated feeling trapped, physically or mentally. That was one of the many reasons that he hated his father. The man trapped him in the role of the stupid youngest son outshone by his older prodigy of a brother. God, what the hell was he supposed to do? The fear crawled up his throat like acid and his whole body rejected what he knew was coming. He was going to die. Sasuke Uchiha was going to die. Fuck! Was a little plane crash really all it took to break him and turn him back into a scared little brat again? Tears came unbidden to his eyes. Yes, yes it was. He'd never been so terrified in his life. He hated even the notion of the feeling eating away at his mind. He didn't want to die!

 **.x.X.x.**

Naruto Uzumaki watched as the plane descended almost in slow motion. It was strange, the details he noticed. The man sitting in front of him was elderly, and with his keen ears, the young man could hear the older one's heart struggle to keep beating. Shit, he was having a heart attack. How was Naruto supposed to save him?

The girl in the window seat to his left, a midnight-blue-haired teenager with a stuttering problem, if he remembered correctly, was screaming something about her sister, Hanabi. Damn it, why weren't the siblings sitting together? How could he calm her down? Was her sister safe?

A teenage boy across the aisle on his right held a small object in his hands in what looked something like a prayer. A rosary? No, it was too small to be a necklace. Maybe a pendant then. Horror appeared on Naruto's face as the boy opened his hands to show a rather odd ring. It was a sharp but small curved spike, which actually matched the pale, raven-headed kids punk-rock style quite perfectly, but somehow Naruto knew the idiots' plan.

"Wai-!" He reached out a second too late and could do nothing more than watch in absolute horror as the poor kid dragged the spike in deep lines up his own wrist in three quick movements. It cut into his flesh like a knife, leaving trails of liquid crimson from his wrist to the inside of his elbow.

Damnit! Damnit! Damnit! He wasn't going to be able to fix that. It's not like he knew medical ninjutsu. This was a small plane with only thirty or so passengers on board and two had already died or were at least as good as dead. What if things worked themselves out, huh? What if that dumb idiot wasn't meant to die here and he just ended his life for nothing?

Naruto couldn't help but think back to when this all started. He shouldn't have left things be when the money for this damned field trip landed on Kakashi-sensei's desk. The Uzumaki was never going to be able to pay to join his class in their adventures, and he'd been so damn pleased when whoever paid for him had done it. He'd planned on thanking them a million times over when he tracked them down somehow. It was the first favor an outsider had ever, ever done for him. God, how stupid could he get?! Nothing in his life came easy. He was a penniless, hated orphan. His entire existence was a struggle, but he'd be damned if he didn't fight to the bitter end. If not for him, then for everyone else. He had to save them. The wellbeing of everyone else was the only thought in his head. He was completely consumed in trying to save them all. If he died... If he died, and the rest of the passengers survived... Maybe it would be worth it.

The girl next to him had passed out. No one was paying attention. They were all too busy screaming and praying to gods they didn't believe in two minutes ago to save them. Gripping the armrests on the shitty blue seat he was strapped in until his knuckles turned white, he closed his eyes and looked deep within himself...

 **I tried to capture Sasuke's self-absorbed selfishness and Naruto's insane selflessness. These are their biggest flaws. Thus, this is what they will affect in each other. For better or for worse, well, even I don't quite know that yet.**

 **~B**


	2. Deleted Scene: Fate

**Deleted Scene: Fate**

Once upon a time, there were two men. One who would fall to narcissistic ruin on his own, and the other who would lift others up while letting himself be trampled in the process without intervention. The first came from money and prestige, an easy life awaited him until Fate thought of a plan to slowly destroy him. An unforgiving father, an unreachable brother, a slow descent into insanity. Fate would break him for her own viewing pleasure. Then she saw the second of the two men. She dished him a deal even worse. He grew up a street rat. Beaten, broken, abandoned and left to rot. He would certainly fall as well.

Then something Fate did not expect happened. The second man pulled himself from the ashes that he'd been born into, and stood as a light, a beacon of hope to all that chose to get to know him. He shone brighter than the stars themselves, and she felt the sudden onset of guilt.

As she gazed at her web of multicolored strings, she found one she was sure she hadn't meant to weave in. The last time she'd made that mistake it had all ended in tragedy. This time around though, she looked down on the thread with remorse for what she'd done. She'd ruined the life of an angel. Given him the worst upbringing imaginable. This thread though, this string made of her most favorite and rarest of colors, it told her what the gods wanted. While she'd tried her damnedest to destroy the angel, a man that held the demon half of the human equation and whose life she'd planned to force to fall to it later on, existed not far away. A potential demon and a pure angel... Damn, how had she missed this? It was so obvious to her now. They were not, in fact, two separate people, but one that had been split apart. If she hadn't intervened in the plans of the gods, she might have even been able to bring them together...

Fate makes mistakes, though she'd never admit that, and when those mistakes occur, her sociopathic tendencies make solving them sometimes more painful than making them was. She weaves her strings into more convoluted and twisted patterns so that even she can't predict the whole future from them. The complexities alone would be enough to cause any human trying to decipher them to die. Humans simply aren't built to untangle her web. Still, in her multicolored pandemonium, one thread took precedence over all others and became to most prominent color in the cloth she wove. The crimson color of Fate herself, drawn from her own scarlet robes and interlaced in only the rarest and pure of occasions. The gods were obviously to blame for the first red thread making its way into the tapestry, but that just meant that this was something worth destroying her glorious attire over. The hems frayed as she added more and more, forcing the already magnificent tapestry to go from a cold sort of beauty to a warm kind.

This story is of two men. Two halves of one whole, and how fate put them through Hell to be together.

 **Yes, this is an actual scene that I took out of Chapter One. I didn't think it fit quite right, but I think I'll start sharing these interesting little nuggets of what could be an idea with you guys. If you hate it just say so. On another note, my first go 'round of editing mainly focused on spelling, but then I got inspired by a different author and was reminded to focus on the actual story, what it should be, rather than what it is. This is the final draft. No more changes unless you guys want to point out any spelling or grammar mistakes. I encourage you to do so. Thanks for sticking with me.**

 **~B**


	3. Welcome to Reality

**2: Welcome to Reality**

* * *

 _Pitch blackness. No ground, no walls, no sky. Just, nothingness. Whatever he stood on, he couldn't see it beyond the void of the negative space. "Hey, demon!" The high voice of a small child echoed in the darkness. He turned in a circle, his head on a swivel as he searched for its owner. "If you're gonna go on a rampage, my dad said he'll kill you, so can you go ahead and do it? I wanna see a demon get gutted." Naruto flinched, his eyes reflexively looking to his feet._

Shut up.

 _It was so dark and so cold. Why was he even here? Why did he have to listen to this? His shoulder was suddenly pushed forcefully enough to send him to the ground. He whipped around, his eyes catching a glowing figure already fading into the black behind him. A tall brunette man in a dirty Jōnin outfit._

 _"Damn demon, watch where you're going." Then he muttered under his breath just before the darkness swallowed him whole, "Just fucking kill yourself already and get it over with."_

Shut up.

 _"Hey look, it's the demon! Watch, I saw some older kids doing this the other day." A young boy's voice spoke and a stone materialized in the darkness and slammed into Naruto's temple, knocking him to the ground. Another followed soon after, hitting his ribs. He curled into a ball on his side as more stones were thrown. His back, his legs, his arms. He could feel the bruises forming. "Idiot demon child!"_

Shut up. Shut up! SHUT UP!

 _ **"Fuck off!"**_ That oh-so-familiar voice rang out. It was deep and gravely, and with it a bright white overtook the darkness, blinding him, then faded back until only a dim light was left to illuminate the room Naruto lay in. He sat up and looked around the dark sewer, his eyes immediately gravitating towards the being in front of him. The thick metal bars that had separated them had long since been removed and the blonde immediately wanted to curl up into the beasts soft fur.

 _"Sorry."_ He muttered, his eyes moving to the layer of water covering the floor. Was the water level always this high? It went almost halfway up his shins.

 _ **"Dumb brat. I didn't do anything special, you're stupid dream was just too loud and..."**_ He searched briefly for the right word before quickly giving up. _ **"**_ **stupid** _ **for me to sleep through."**_ The giant nine-tailed fox sighed, resting his head grumpily on his crossed front paws. Even so, he moved almost reflexively to curl a single tail around the young man, as he did every time the horrid dreams plagued him. Naruto seemed to melt into the familiar warmth.

 _"Sure, okay."_ He shrugged, knowing better than to believe the prideful fox. The places where the rocks had hit him were still hurting... Why was that? What happen- _"Oh, shit!"_ Naruto sat up in surprise and the fox rolled his eyes.

 _ **"Finally remember now, do ya?"**_ The images, so many images, took over his mind. Scared people, screaming, prayers, children. Was everyone alright? He needed to wake up. Hiding in his mindscape like a frightened little brat wasn't helping anyone. _ **"Calm down, we saved them. Well, most of them... Some of them. Okay, not a lot, but a few of them."**_

 _"We didn't save everyone."_ He spoke in horror. His insides burning and his heart sinking at the thought.

 _ **"Yeah well, it was just a few or none at all. Be happy some survived, I've never actually tried to forcefully land a crashing plane safely before... I'm much better at smashing these strange machines to bits."**_ The fox sighed. Why was his captor so damn demanding? A few lives saved was better than none, right?... Oh, not that he cared or anything. Human lives weren't worth much to the demon.

 _"Thank you for helping, but I've got to go help the survivors."_ Naruto pushed down the guilt and sadness, forcing himself to focus on what had to be done.

 _ **"You're hurt. Stay and rest."**_ Naruto smiled sadly up at the beast.

 _"Thanks, but if I stay here, things could go wrong out there."_ He pushed his aching body into a standing position and focused until he faded back into reality.

 _Well,_ the fox thought to himself, _**most**_ _human lives aren't worth much._ Then again, his captor- his friend, had always been a strange one.

 **.x.X.x.**

Naruto had gotten the absolute shit beaten out of him quite a few times in his short life, so waking up to a pounding headache and aching body wasn't exactly a new experience. He sat for a moment and assessed the damage. A possible concussion, fractured ribs, more cuts and bruises covering his body than there were before he stepped on the plane... Yeah, he'd be fine given a day or so. That was both a blessing and a burden. In his life, scars were how he marked who he was. Better than writing it down or talking it out, they were a permanent reminder that he had protected those in need of protection, forgiven those who hurt him out of fear, and given all of himself to create an outcome he would never regret. This event would leave no permanent scars except for those on his mind. The cuts weren't deep enough, but at least that meant his furry friend would have less work to do. He would just have to make the outcome of this situation as unregrettable as he possibly could so the lack of physical evidence of it on his body wouldn't seem sad. Not that any of that would make sense to others.

He opened his eyes slowly, hissing as they dilated uncomfortably to the bright light surrounding him. As he did so, he realized he was surrounded by water, the liquid lapping against his legs gently. It went halfway up his shins. Well, that explained why the water was so high in his mindscape. Dangers in the outside world sometimes leaked into his subconscious as if to warn him something was wrong. With his eyes now adjusted to the light, Naruto looked around. The girl next to him was sobbing quietly, her seatbelt dented badly enough that he figured it was probably the reason she hadn't tried to leave yet. She held her pale hands over her face, her shaking shoulders the only proof of her silent tears. He looked down when he felt his hands stick to the armrests of his seat and saw that he'd torn the cheap blue fabric and molded the metal of the coach seat to match the shape of his fingers. _Oops_. Gently prying his fingers from the hard material squished between them, he moved to place a kind hand on the girl's shoulder.

 **.x.X.x.**

Hinata had awoken to find herself trapped and realized the water was slowly rising. After struggling to escape and calling out for help for a good while she was forced to accept that there was nothing she could do. Her whole world crashed around her. She was going to die and she couldn't do anything about it. She cried. Her father wouldn't approve, but what else was there for her to do? She didn't know how much time had passed as she sat there, muffling her sobs with her hands, when suddenly a hand found itself on her shoulder. Hinata flinched away, the limb jumping off of her shoulder as quickly as it had come, and her eyes searched out the owner of the hand only to find kind cerulean eyes staring back at her. He didn't look surprised at her reaction, but there was hidden kind of sad hurting in those eyes. Like it was expected and common for people to not want him to touch them.

"Are you okay?" He asked, his sun-kissed skin was bruised around his jaw, the red hues of blood were mixed in with his dirty yellow hair and there were deep bags under his eyes, but the boy didn't seem the least bit concerned with his own wellbeing.

"Y-yes- er, n-no. Um..." She couldn't think straight. She recognized this boy, but she couldn't remember where from. He smiled reassuringly before unstrapping himself and stretching his muscles as he stood, quite a few stiff joints popping in the process. He sighed when he was done and turned his attention back to her. That look in his eyes that said he had everything under control... Oh, right. This was Naruto Uzumaki, the cute boy that sat in the back of her class. They'd been in the same class since they were little, but he had never joined one of their field trips before. She remembered being surprised when he showed up at the airport for the journey.

"We should probably get you out of here." He smiled again, this one more cheerful, before turning to a boy across the aisle from them. He took something from the teenager with the obviously dyed hair and streaked back eyeliner, before turning back to Hinata. That's when she noticed the blood in the water all around them. It was tinted pink and the chair the "emo-punk" - as she'd heard the other kids call people who dressed like that - sat in was dripping with crimson. He was dead, she realized, her eyes widening in horror

The blonde teenager leaned over her, blocking her view of the carnage, a ring a few sizes too small was now placed a little past the end of his index finger. It was a black, curved spike, and was covered in blood. Her breath hitched at the sight, but the boy just smiled and used it to slowly saw through the seatbelt until it came apart with a snap. She immediately leapt from her seat, the irrational image of that not being enough and her remaining unable to get up forcing her into quick action. Once she was no longer pinned down, Hinata took a few deep breaths before smiling to the blonde.

"Th-thank you." She muttered, and he nodded before glancing back at the dead man. He closed his eyes for a moment in silent thanks to the teen, even if the kid was a suicidal idiot, at least he'd enabled him to save someone else. A second later he glanced around them, taking in the bright sunlight seeping through the many holes in the plane. The row behind the two survivors was completely gone, along with the wall and floor they'd been attached to. He could see quite a few places on either side of the plane where the same had happened. He remembered the family that sat three rows behind him, two dark-skinned parents with a matching child no older than five. The seats were still in place, but the people were gone. He glanced at the missing section of the plane just behind those empty seats and saw the green shirt with yellow horizontal stripes that the kid had been wearing. It was now bloody and half-shredded, caught on a jagged piece of metal in the wall. _Oh god, their seatbelts weren't on. What the hell?! Why didn't they...?_ He looked away. He couldn't go down the rabbit hole of the dead until he'd dealt with the living.

"Hey," At the sound of Naruto's voice, the girl looked back from where her sorrowful eyes had followed his, tears threatening to spill. "I need you to go outside. See if anyone's nearby. There are probably injured people here and we're going to need all the help we can get."

She nodded a quick bob of her head and focused on climbing out of the plane, ignoring the various aches and pains the movement brought to her attention. _I can cry later,_ she promised herself, _now's not the time._

With that taken care of, Naruto turned and looked around at the many unmoving passengers. One at a time he went to each and rested his head on their chest. It occurred to him that feeling for a pulse on their neck would be faster, but he wanted to be absolutely sure about their mortality so he spared all the time he could.

Luggage of all shapes and sizes floated in the aisle, bumping painfully into his legs frequently, and the blonde made a mental note that he needed to collect as much of it as he could. They could send what was left back to the families of the dead.

Naruto had been seated at the back of the plane, and with so many already found to be dead, he ignored the rest and made his way to the front. The water was higher there which meant anyone still alive in First Class had much less time left than those further back. His first task was getting into the cockpit. The pilots had to be up to their necks by the look of things. The door was reinforced and meant to keep any and all distractions at bay, including possible terrorists trying to take over. In other words, it wasn't going to be easy to open. He prepared his chakra, or at least what was left of it, for an uphill battle, only to turn the door handle and have it open easily. Naruto shrugged, one less thing for him to have to deal with...

The pilots were gone. The many buttons and dials were indecipherable to him, but he figured that when whatever bad shit they must indicate showed up, they probably jumped ship to save themselves... _Well, good for them_ , he sighed. _It would've been nice to have someone who knew what the hell they were doing, but it is what it is. Oh well._

The first person he came across after exiting the cockpit was an elderly man. Putting his ear on his chest, he moved on when he couldn't find the guys heartbeat. He repeated the process over and over. Getting more and more worried that the girl and himself might be the only survivors. That he couldn't save anyone else. What good was he if all he could do was save one person?

Then he laid his head on the chest of a pale kid with black hair who looked to be about his age... and heard a heartbeat. Ripping the teen's seatbelt off, he gently picked him up bridal style. His excitement was bubbling in his stomach, causing a small smile to form at the corner of his mouth. He'd actually found someone. A living person! He stumbled his way through a hole in the side of the plane and stepped out into the blinding sunlight. The water immediately tried to knock him over, but at the last second he used his chakra to redirect its path around him. He forced all the power he had left into shielding himself and his new friend (because right then and there he didn't care if this guy was some psychotic murderer, he was just unspeakably happy to have found more than one person, to have saved more than just the girl from earlier) from the current of the ocean. He trudged along the wet sand until the water slowly turned shallow and the sand became dry. Even looking down Naruto had to squint, the light bouncing off the sand like a mirror, but when he felt he'd finally gotten a safe distance from the water, he fell unceremoniously to the ground, his body arched gently around the teen until he rolled off his fellow survivor and flopped lazily onto his back, looking up at the sky. It was so clear and blue and bright, but still very different from _his_ sky back home somehow...

They were alive... There could be others... He hefted himself up, his body screaming at him to lie back down all the while. When his gaze made its way back to the metal tomb that had once been a plane, he stared in shocked horror. It was so much worse from the outside, and so much better at the same time. There were giant, jagged holes laced throughout the metal it as if it had suddenly decided it wanted to become a massive cheese grater instead of a plane, its formerly white paneling was now stained black and gray in places, and it was dented all over like a old tin can. He could only see the left side of it, but from the looks of the giant hunk of twisted metal that sat further up the beach, the right wing had been completely torn off. While the left wing was missing its engine and whatever material used to extend out from that vital piece of machinery. The part of the plane that held the cockpit and most of the first class rested in the water, while the rest of the plane was sitting in the wet sand... and the tide was rising. Shit, he was losing sight of the front of plane and who knew how many people were hurt, or unconscious and unaware of their impending death. He needed to get moving, to save as many as he could. Still, from the outside, it was easy to imagine that this was an old display in a museum. Flight 241, many dead, survived by loving friends and family. Or maybe it was a tragic art piece made in poor taste. Something that was very lifelike and never truly appreciated because of that. It was just so easy to see it all objectively when he was no longer surrounded by bodies and the stench of death. He shook his head, forcing himself back to the task at hand as he slowly compelled his beaten and broken body to move. Once he was up, he ran towards the hole in the side of the wreckage that allowed him entry back into First Class. He needed to hurry.

As Naruto reentered the plane, the horror of it all washed over him again. There weren't many who'd survived the crash. Some were turned into pin cushions for plane parts, some seats and sections were missing entirely, their occupants nowhere to be found, while others looked to have died for no reason at all... Shock, was his sad conclusion. Their bodies must have shut down from shock or something, that seemed reasonable. Although he did find quite a few necks broken from whiplash. Some had bled out. It was gruesome, but he couldn't dwell on the dead, he had to focus on the living. Continuing to check for beating hearts, he went from one person to the next, becoming all the more desperate as the minutes passed.

Like a bright spark in the darkness, the next person he found alive was a girl. She had short pink hair and a gash across her forehead that covered the right half of her face in blood. The water was only up to her waist, so carrying her out should have been easy, except even her lightweight made his battered body feel like it was going to snap in half. He set her on the beach with the unconscious boy and pushed on to search the rest of the horror show that was the inside of the wreckage. He wouldn't give up. No way in hell was he leaving without making sure he'd gotten to everyone. Checked every single person on that plane.

"Help!" Naruto heard a voice call out a while later and saw a blonde girl staring at him from a few rows back with a frightened look on her face. "Please, it won't come off!" The water was up to her chest and her seatbelt buckle was dented badly enough to make it impossible to remove the correct way. Just like the girl from before. He silently thanked the man who'd brought the sharp ring onboard yet again before whipping it out and using it to cut through her seatbelt. She jumped up and hugged him quickly with thanks before turning to the chubby kid who was slowly regaining consciousness next to her. She was lanky and pale, blood matted her hair down, the ponytail it had once been in now nothing more than a ratty mess. Still, Naruto could tell she was beautiful, her expressive face not only showed her emotions but seemed to almost put them on display. "Hey, Chōji, you're going to be okay... Come on, I can't carry you, so wake up." He blinked a few times as his eyes focused.

"Ino." He sighed in relief before looking around with a grim expression. The teen's light-brown hair stood out in the messy array typically associated with loud, rambunctious people, but his kind, humble eyes directly contradicted that. He scanned the bodies that surrounded them with a deep sense of loss that Naruto understood completely. When his eyes finally rested on the blonde, he forced a half-smile in thanks, easily figuring out that the boy had helped them somehow by his in-control demeanor. Naruto reminded Chōji of the leaders in those apocalypse movies his girlfriend loved so much. His body language spoke of humble protection. Though, if Chōji hadn't been raised as the heir to the Akamichi family, he doubted he would've noticed so much, and he very much doubted that Ino had caught on to all this boy was saying through his stance and actions. He'd have to talk to her about it later.

"I could use your help if you're not hurt," Naruto muttered and they looked to him. All three were battered and bruised, various cuts littering their bodies, but the thought of not helping the few others still alive seemed almost foreign to them.

"Of course, what can we do?" Chōji asked while standing, a slight smile on his face while his eyes never strayed too far from Ino. His weight shifted uncomfortably, a deep gash on his leg making itself known, and Naruto gave him a look of sympathy, pausing slightly to perhaps amend his request.

"Well if you could start grabbing as much luggage as you can and getting it a safe distance from the ocean, then we can return the stuff to their," he hesitated ever so slightly at the mention of the dead, "families later. This plane's not going to last much longer." Chōji nodded, his mind slowly working out what exactly the blonde was doing, and Naruto turned to Ino. "I'm trying to get anyone still breathing out before they start drowning so if you cou-"

"Sure, I'll go to the back of the plane and start working my way up to you. We can meet in the middle." Ah, so that was it. Naruto had delegated the less strenuous job to him because of his injury. He couldn't find fault in that, it was the logical thing to do. Nodding in agreement they all started working as the water continued to slowly rise.

Ino worked up from the back of the plane, her heart sinking at the silence she kept finding in people's chests. Then she found a boy whose heartbeat with a loud pounding as if it were proclaiming to the world that it sure as hell wasn't ready to die yet. She smiled widely.

 **.x.X.x.**

Kiba was awoken, not by his mother barging in and demanding him to get his ass out of bed (thank god), or by his sister dumping a bucket of water on his head (another plus), or by Akamaru languidly licking his cheeks (okay, that one wouldn't have bothered him in the slightest), but by someone slapping his cheek lightly and repeatedly. He groaned a little, his blurry eyes trying and failing to focus on the blonde blob in front of him.

"Oh, good, you're awake." She sighed, which of course immediately made him want to go right back to sleep. If only to irritate this woman his family had brought to wake him up for some reason. He closed his eyes, hiding his smug grin as best he could. "Wha- Fucking- Like hell!" She stammered before slapping him in the face. Hard. His head snapped to the side, his brain jarred and his eyes now fully open.

"What the hell?!" The slap seemed to have fixed whatever circuit in his eyes had disconnected and he was now glaring at the blonde with loosely reined fury.

"Jesus! Do you not know where you are? Get. Up." She spat back, taking his yelling as a sign that he was okay and her attack (which was a bit of a rash decision made in the moment that she almost, _almost_ regretted) hadn't caused or exacerbated any serious injury. She'd removed his seatbelt the moment she realized he was alive, so he now easily leapt up, getting right in her face.

"What the fuck are you-" The smell was what hit him first. It was horrid and made his stomach churn as it seemed to claw it's way up his nose and straight down to his gut. It was like nothing he had ever smelt before and brought his attention to his surroundings. Dead bodies. Skewered, broken, bloody dead bodies. They were everywhere. He whirled around, his mind piecing his surroundings together with what little he remembered. They were in an absolutely demolished plane... Oh, shit. Oh, shit! "Oh, _shit_."

"Yeah, now get your ass in gear, we need some help." She ordered. Typically, Kiba was not one to take orders, but he couldn't quite find the words to fight back with the lump that had formed in his throat.

Oh, crap! "Akamaru!" He lunged to the back of the plane, ignoring the other person, a fat guy that looked very surprised to see him, he passed on his way through the dead bodies and the rising water.

Ino shrugged, figuring he had a friend on board and he was probably going to check on them. Then she remembered that she'd already checked everyone back there and something like pity welled in her chest. She pushed down the flicker of sadness that threatened to engulf her in depressed flames and soldiered on. She'd deal with emotions later, right now she had to focus on saving everyone she could.

As Ino set back to work, Kiba broke into the compartment in the very back of the plane where animals were kept. His chakra completely demolishing the lock on the door in his hurry. He glanced around at three broken and battered cages, as well as a massive hole in the wall. Worry gripped his heart, seeming to squeeze it furiously until he heard an excited bark he recognized. He moved passed the cages, one of which held what looked like a dead possum, while the other was empty, it's metal door missing from the plastic carrier. The third was much larger but on its side. Nonetheless, its occupant gazed excitedly at Kiba while a wide grin grew on the boy's face.

"Akamaru!" He quickly kneeled down and opened the cage, the big white and brown dog jumping into his arms the moment the metal bars were out of the way. His body had a few cuts here and there, but overall the canine seemed fine.

The dog continued to bark happily, and Kiba was able to understand perfectly, rolling his eyes when asked what took so long, he explained the plane crash as best he could. Someone clearing their throat interrupted the two and Kiba glanced up to see a blonde he didn't recognize.

"Hey," The boy smiled sheepishly before remembering his confidence. He stood a little straighter and continued. "Hey, we could use your help. Hinata- another survivor, she went to see if she could find help but she hasn't come back yet, so d'ya think your dog-"

"Akamaru." The blonde paused with a raised eyebrow before continuing.

"Right. Do ya think Akamaru could sniff her out?"

"Sure, there's nothing Akamaru can't find. He's an Inuzuka dog after all." He spoke proudly and Naruto let slip an amused smile.

"I'm Naruto by the way."

"Kiba."

"Uh, Naruto!" Ino's worried voice rang out and Naruto was gone in a flash of yellow.

 **.x.X.x.**

Ino was staring anxiously at a redhead with dark circles under his eyes and the kanji for "love" tattooed in scarlet on his forehead when Naruto arrived. The boy glared back at her with stubborn protectiveness, his right arm held out in front of a girl with dirty-blonde sitting unconscious next to him. When Naruto entered their line of sight, Ino took his arrival as an excuse to get away from the creepy man and continued on in her search for survivors. Though she kept an ear out in case the dangerous-looking guy tried to pull anything. While she soldiered on, Naruto caught a flicker of confusion make its way into the boy's eyes at the sight of him, before the expression fell and his face returned to its emotionless state.

Naruto didn't speak like the boy expected him to, but simply looked between him, the girl, and the rising water at their knees. The blonde heard Kurama growl lowly in the back of his mind, but ignored it as the ginger inspected him. Sizing him up before speaking four simple words, his voice devoid of the feelings Naruto could just barely see in the twitching of an impatient eyebrow and the anxious tap of a finger.

"She is my sister." Naruto nodded in understanding and gave the boy (who, now that he thought about it, looked kind of familiar) a small, reassuring grin.

"We're trying to get everyone out of the wreckage. There're other unconscious survivors outside if you want to take your sister there." The redhead nodded, his gaze drifting down to glance at a small stream of blood running down the blonde's fingers. A moment later his hands were stuffed in his jacket pockets in a lame attempt to hide his injury. The redhead mentally shrugged before standing, nodding his head slightly in introduction and thanks.

"Thank you for your assistance, I am Gaara."

"Naruto." The blonde smiled and sketched a hasty nod back before his attention turned to a strange man with a young girl cradled in his arms making his way up the plane to them. Gaara hefted his sister onto his back and took the strangers arrival as his cue to leave before he was dragged into someone else's problems. "Hello." Naruto grinned to the brunette stranger and the boy, who seemed to be about his age (at least he couldn't have been more than eighteen), sighed back. Okay, not the response he was expecting, but whatever. The girl in his arms looked a lot like Hinata now that he could see her better. Could be Hanabi... He kind of hoped she was, at least that meant the girl's sister wasn't dead.

The guy muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, "troublesome", before sighing again and actually attempting to communicate. "Hey, where are we putting unconscious survivors?" At Naruto's questioning raised eyebrow the teen continued. "This girl was sitting next to me and even though it's a drag I figured I couldn't leave her there. Also, we need to collect this luggage while we can." He spoke with an air of exhaustion but the blonde simply nodded.

"They're on the beach," he pointed vaguely to the right and the boy nodded. "and yeah, I've got Chōji working on that, but if you want to help him out..." The brunette nodded and turned back around.

"I'm Shikamaru, by the way." He half-sighed over his shoulder as he walked away.

"Naruto." The blonde answered, not seeming at all perturbed when the brunette simply shrugged back and disappeared further into the plane, looking for a better place to exit from. Shikamaru was just happy that someone else thought to prepare for the worst. Best case scenario, they'd be returning whatever they found to the families of the dead. Worst case, they'd need all the help they could get. From what he saw when he glanced outside they seemed to be on a rather small island, if the curvature of the shore was anything to go by, and if this island was uninhabited, they would be in for one hellish vacation.

 **This chapter went from 2,061 words to 5,406. So, you guys think my edits are worth it yet? Originally, I'd glossed over everyone being found, but I decided to take the time to unravel each of their discoveries. How do you guys like it?**

 **~B**


	4. Let the Games Begin

**3: Let the Games Begin**

* * *

The sun was two-thirds of the way through its daily trek in the sky by the time everyone was out of the plane with as much luggage as they could salvage. As they sat on the beach resting their wounded bodies, they watched the plane finish getting dragged out to the depths of the ocean while each of the unconscious survivors woke up starting with the blonde sister of the redhead. She immediately sat up, her eyes searching desperately until they landed on her brother sitting within arm's reach to her left. With a sigh of relief, she turned her attention to what he and everyone else was staring at and saw a half-swallowed plane inching its way under the water. Her aching muscles, various wounds and the disaster in front of her caused the pieces to fall into place and she stayed silent, realizing that if these eight people were the only survivors then quite a few dead were getting a burial at sea right now. The thought set off a dull throbbing in her chest.

Hanabi was the next to wake up, silent tears sliding down her cheeks when she didn't see her sister amongst the survivors. Her head whirled as regrets, pain, and an overwhelming loneliness overtook her. Then a warm hand rested over hers and she ripped her gaze from the sinking wreckage to see kind cerulean gazing back at her.

"Are you Hanabi Hyūga?" The blonde man sitting next to her asked and she nodded slowly, not trusting herself enough to speak. He smiled gently. "Your sister- Hinata, is looking for help. She's just fine." Relief flooded through the twelve-year-old and she couldn't stop herself from wrapping her arms around the odd stranger, burying her face into the side of his chest. The tears didn't stop, on the contrary, they started falling faster, but these new tears were of happiness and she squeezed him tighter. He hesitated for only an instant before curling his right arm around her and leaning slightly back on his left as his eyes returned to the plane. His hand rubbed gentle soothing circles on her back.

Sasuke had been slowly returning to consciousness, his aches and pains gently pulling him from his slumber, when a screech of, "What the hell!?" ripped him to awareness and immediately turned his mood sour. He sat up in irritation, his various injuries making themselves known while his eyes turned crimson with three black tomoes swirling in the scarlet pools. His mind immediately processed the situation and came to terms with his predicament, his eyes making the matter far simpler than it seemed to be for the pink-haired banshee whom he realized was the one who'd woken him. Now aware of the basic situation, his eyes returned to their original onyx and he directed an absolutely livid glare at the girl.

"Shut up." His order was monotone but still came out sounding somehow irritated. The girl whipped around to glare at him, ignoring how everyone else was staring incredulously at her (excluding Hanabi who'd exhausted herself and had tiredly gone back to snuggling into Naruto's side after ascertaining that some girl was just being stupid and there was no danger).

The pinkette's angry gaze landed on the perpetrator, only to discover he was an angel. Perfect pale skin, soft pink lips, slightly shaggy and unkempt damp obsidian hair that framed his face and went a little past the nape of his neck in the back. Was he a god? He looked thin but strong, even if his midnight blue button-up sweater was soaked and his white shorts were, on top of also being wet, stained in various places. This guy just exuded an aura of mystery and beauty. A diamond in the rough if she ever saw one. A moment later she recognized him as Sasuke Uchiha, a man often seen on TV with his older brother... Izumi? Itami? Whatever. The important part of this revelation was that he was not only handsome but also rich and notoriously single.

She immediately turned her expression into that of shy curiosity. "O-Oh, sorry." She threw in a little stutter. "Would you mind telling me what happened? How did we get here?" Her attention turned to the sand surrounding her... Ew. Her light pink sundress was ripped at the hems and covered in sand, which was just a really dry form of dirt, which was just... Ew, times two. There went any good first impressions she might have made with her body. She may have looked like a Neanderthal, but she had to believe her beauty could shine through.

"The plane we were all on crashed." She begrudgingly turned her attention to a blonde guy a few feet to the right and in front of her, with what looked like (but was hard to really know for sure at that angle) a little girl curled up by his side. At his answer, she shifted her focus to the drowning plane. Why were they just sitting there watching the plane sink into the ocean? And where were all the other... Oh god...

Silence prevailed once again, even as Hinata and Kiba made their way back to the survivors. The girl sat on the opposite side of her sleeping sister, and Kiba crouched thuggishly (a bit like a catcher behind home plate) down next to a certain pinkette, who may have taken offense to his assuming he could sit next to her if she wasn't so completely horrified and shocked at the odd "funeral" taking place before her eyes.

When the last of the plane had been taken out to sea, the silence lasted for another few seconds before Kiba spoke up.

"In case anyone's interested, we're fucked." He half-sighed and rolled his eyes at the shocked look on the pink-haired chicks face in response to his language.

"Why do you say that? I mean, the situation is... bad... but-" Ino spoke up while Chōji wrapped an arm around her waist, wondering how truly terrible what the man said meant it really was.

"Akamaru's sayin' he can't pick out any human scents besides ours. This islands probably uninhaberated." The pinkette raised a half-amused, half-questioning-his-sanity eyebrow.

"Do you mean, uninhabited?"

"Whatever." He shrugged it off and turned his attention to Naruto. The blonde seemed to be the one people were turning to earlier and he wanted to see what the want-to-be leader would have to say about this. "So-"

"Who the hell is Akamaru?" He rolled his eyes and glanced back at little miss hot shit, pink-haired banshee.

"My dog. Hinata here," he gestured blandly to the pale girl, "found us a place to squat for the night, and Akamaru's back there waiting for us now." Hinata blushed and looked away.

"I-I-I only t-tr-tripped a-a-and-"

"She fell into a nice little hidden cave network we can use for now. It'll be better than sleeping out on the sand and there's a hot spring so-"

"Well, what are we still doing here?" Little miss loud and obnoxious interrupted. "Let's go. Lead the way." Damn, it was like the girl didn't know how to keep her trap shut.

"We need to take the luggage with us." The redheads' sister spoke up. "If it rains or the tide comes in too far or-"

"That's going to be a lot to carry." The pinkette interrupted with a sigh, watching in stunned silence a moment later as the redhead began picking up as many suitcases and sopping wet travel bags as he could before she even finished speaking. Naruto gently moved Hanabi off of himself and slowly moved her onto his back without waking her. When she was secure he grabbed a couple bags himself before following suit, Kiba already standing and leading the way.

A few minutes later had everyone carrying something, even the banshee had a couple suitcases.

"You look kind of familiar, what's your name?" Naruto spoke up, his attention focused on the redhead's sister who was walking next to him.

"Temari." She gave a slight grin when he smiled.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Naruto." His smile grew wider. "So what do you do? I mean, job wise. Er- Or are you still in school- I mean-" She turned her attention back to the sandy ground, focusing on not tripping over tufts of grass or tree roots.

"I'm the Kazekage's top advisor." His eyes widened fractionally at the revelation.

"Wow, and I'm just on a school field trip."

"Didn't school let out for summer a while ago?" Her gaze returned to him in confusion.

"Yeah, it was a summer thing. I'm graduating next year so this was actually my last chance to join in on the fun." He chuckled to himself but explained when the girl gave him an odd look. "My first ever school trip and I end up in a plane crash in the middle of nowhere, I must have the shittiest luck." He chuckled again and she joined in with a slight giggle of her own.

"Who's this then, your sister?" She asked, gesturing to Hanabi (who was still sound asleep on his back) after another moment of silence and almost tripping over a tree root.

"Nah. This is Hanabi Hyūga, Hinata Hyūga's little sister." He nodded toward the midnight-blue-haired girl trailing behind everyone else. She glanced up at him when he introduced her before returning her gaze to the ground, hefting the strap of a bag into a better position on her shoulder. This, of course, brought to his attention that everyone was listening to their conversation. "Right," He spoke a little louder, now aware of the attention on him. "we should probably all introduce ourse-" His gaze was brought to the pinkette, who interrupted, jumping on the chance to get a certain Uchiha's attention.

"I'm Sakura Haruno." She smiled. "I'm in training to become a healer so-"

"Chōji!" Naruto interrupted, returning the favor. "Chōji's leg is hurt. D'ya think you can help him?" She raised an eyebrow and gave him an annoyed look. Like asking her to actually use her skills to help people was a massive imposition. Then she glanced at Sasuke standing a few feet behind her and realized this would be a great time to show off.

"Of course." She smiled and walked over to the man. Dropping the two light bags of luggage she carried, she inspected the wound through the tear in his pants and quickly coated her hands in green chakra before easily healing the gash on his thigh into little more than a pink scar. Chōji sighed in relief as the pain vanished. _You see that Sasuke,_ Sakura internally bragged. _Aren't I the best?!_ Sasuke shuttered minutely with the feeling that someone had just walked over his grave. The tingling in his spine just felt creepy.

"Thank you." Chōji smiled and Sakura grinned back before picking up her bags again. The group kept moving and the introductions continued.

"I'm Naruto. As far as I can tell I was the first one to get out of there, so if you've got any questions..." He shrugged. "I doubt I can answer them, but I can at least fill you in on what I do know, ya' know." There was a moment of silence before the next person got her courage up enough to speak.

"I-I'm Hinata H-Hyūga, and th-th-this is my l-little sister H-Hanabi." She gestured to her sister before lowering her gaze to try and hide her blush. Everyone already knew her name now that she thought about it, as well as Hanabi's, due to Kiba calling her by her name earlier and everyone overhearing both their names from Naruto just now. This realization caused her blush to worsen as she fretted over it.

"Temari." The dirty-blonde-haired girl spoke while tying her frizzy hair up into four spiky buns with the two hair ties she kept on each wrist. The heavy luggage she carried on each shoulder weighed her down, the straps creating an X on her chest and making her large breasts that much more prominent.

"Gaara." Her red-haired brother spoke next.

"Shikamaru Nara." He yawned, not at all interesting in actually learning everyone's names. Not that he had much of a choice, his intelligence level meant he rarely forgot names.

"I'm Chōji Akimichi and this is my girlfriend Ino Yamanaka." The chubby brunette pointed his chin to the long-haired platinum blonde and she smiled kindly at everyone.

"I'm Kiba Inuzuka." He half-turned back to them with a cheeky grin before continuing to lead them all.

"Sasuke Uchiha." Everyone paused and stared at the teen at the sound of his last name (except Sakura, who smiled kindly, trying to seem ignorant of what his family name meant... and Naruto, but he was actually ignorant about stuff like that). The Uchiha family owned private police forces all over the world and trained them rigorously. They were the reason peace somewhat existed within the nations. He was like a celebrity...

"...Well then, nice to meet you all." Naruto sighed as he looked at all the luggage the group carried that he'd have to sort through, and the people he had to find a way to help. Everyone was littered with bruises and scrapes here and there, Sakura would have her work cut out for her when they got to the caves. Chōji's injury had looked the worst, so at least that was taken care of. Well, everyone except Gaara was hurt, which was unsettling, to say the least.

 **.x.X.x.**

The caves were perfect. They were only about a ten-minute walk from the beach and were surrounded by lush greenery that hid them from predators. The large entrance was tall enough that no one had to bend down to get through it and it was covered by green, leafy vines that hung to the dark dirt of the ground in front of it. If Hinata hadn't accidentally tripped into it, they would never have discovered it in the first place. A fact that made the girl blush madly whenever it was brought up and that no one would ever let her forget.

Inside the massive, tree-covered hill that would house them, the somewhat rounded cave grew to be at least twelve feet tall at its center and about thirty feet around, with a few natural stone and tree root columns spaced out to help support its structure. Sixteen small alcoves surrounded the big center area, all about a third of its size. Their entrances went from about five feet tall at the smallest to seven feet tall at the largest. The large opening across from the main entrance was actually a tunnel that exited to a fairly large hot spring. The hill that contained the caves sloped down into a valley at the back that looked something like a bowl with water at its center and huge, grassy natural walls that were high enough to block the view of the surrounding area and curled slightly back over themselves at the top.

All of the luggage was set out in the middle of the main cave and Naruto immediately got to work on sorting them. This, of course, caused everyone else to join in as well. Whether this was because they honestly wanted to help or because they were desperate to find their own bags, was anyone's guess. Naruto etched out everyone's names in the thin layer of dirt covering the rock floor and if a bag had the name of anyone on the list on it, the person who found it either handed it to them or called out to them so they could come collect it. The tired bedraggled survivors work in exhausted silence, with each at one point or another finding their way to Sakura so she could heal them. A few of the more perceptive people had a suspicion that she was only helping them because it meant she got out of doing any real manual labor. Then again, she was helping either way, so they couldn't complain.

Naruto was as respectful as possible, trying only to find anything that might be vitally necessary for their survival over the next few days and leaving everything else alone. Going through the property of the dead made his stomach turn, but he'd feel worse if Sasuke got a sunburn or Chōji got an infection and there had been something here that could've prevented the possible problems. Of course, sunscreen wasn't hard to find, and he also found some bathing supplies like soap and shampoo and whatnot, as well as a few prescriptions he couldn't pronounce let alone read the names of, but for every good thing he found, there was a morbidly sad thing. A family photo, a baby shower gift, a get well card. It was as if the luggage turned into people, families, right before his eyes. Families that were now broken and probably had no idea. No clue that their granddad or daughter or brother or mother was never coming home.

He let out a sigh as the pile slowly got smaller and smaller. At some point, Hinata had taken to putting the luggage they'd already gone through into the smallest cavern of them all located next to the hot spring tunnel. He gave her a small thankful smile, which she returned with an odd sort of concerned yet still perpetually embarrassed look.

She'd seen him smile in thanks, but his eyes seemed to almost gloss over her, like he wasn't really looking at her. Actually, now that she was paying attention, he didn't seem to really be looking at what he was doing either. She felt her own muscles aching and it felt like each individual muscle had its very own weight tied to it. If she felt like this, when she hadn't done much but walk around since the crash and had only now really begun moving things, Naruto must have been dead on his feet. In fact, now that she thought about it, he hadn't taken a break to see Sakura like everyone else. She glanced around, finally taking in everyone there as a whole. They all looked exhausted, but none of them seemed to be as weighed down as Naruto was. What was he thinking about? What was he feeling? She caught the redhead, Gaara, glancing at Naruto, and she could've sworn she saw a hint of concern in his eyes. Now that she was looking for it, Shikamaru's eyes also kept flickering to the blonde periodically. She didn't understand, but she knew they must have noticed and probably understood whatever was really wrong with him.

That's when Shikamaru lazily walked over and squatted next to Naruto. The blonde barely even seemed to notice him, his cloudy focus staying squarely on the task at hand. "They're dead, and it sucks, but we can't get caught up in that right now." As Hinata felt her blood run cold at realizing simultaneously what was wrong with Naruto and what a completely morbid and cruel thing none of the others seemed to get that they were doing, Naruto simply nodded with a sigh. "Troublesome," Shikamaru all but groaned before continuing after a short pause while eyeing a specific and rare commodity tucked amongst the rest of the stuff. "I'm going to grab one of those sleeping bags and head out to the beach after a quick dip in the hot spring. Someone needs to stay out there and keep a lookout, and it might as well be me." He didn't wait for a response before standing, but both Shikamaru and the eavesdropping Hinata heard the quiet thank you leave the blonde's lips as the Nara walked away.

 **.x.X.x.**

Once Sasuke had found his luggage and halfheartedly helped sort some bags until they'd completed the task, he started checking out each individual cavern in the large cave network until he realized that they were pretty much all the same. The only real differences were the sizes and proximities to the caves around them. He glanced around and spotted a couple that were a little further away from the others, then checked inside one to see there was a nice amount of space there. Not as big as his room back home, but he'd only be here for a night or two at most so it'd be fine. Throwing his stuff in, he turned and noticed everyone had seemed to take his action as permission to do the same. That's when he spotted Sakura heading straight for him. He remembered there was one cave that was fairly close to his and instinctively looked around for an excuse- for help- for _anything_ that would keep her from trying to move in next to him. He had enough calculating gold diggers to deal with back home, he didn't need one here, no matter how short the time he'd have to deal with her was. That's when his eyes locked on to golden wisps of what would be his salvation.

Naruto looked dead tired as he slowly made his way to the same cave Sakura was after. Why he chose that cave or how the timing could've been so perfect was what Sasuke assumed to be an act of God. Seems the big man upstairs didn't like Sakura either. The only problem was, while Sakura was happily strolling towards him, an almost skip in her step, Naruto was dragging his feet, unaware that his actions caused poor Sasuke's inner three-year-old to start screaming and pounding his wee little fists on the floor.

"Hello, Sakura." It took a monumental amount of effort not to clench his teeth while speaking to the girl. She seemed surprised at his calling her out, but shrugged it off with a smile.

"Oh, hi Sasuke. Have you chosen your area for the night yet?" Just a few more seconds of this little distraction and Naruto would reach his goal.

"Hn." He nodded slightly, trying the avoid having to speak with her more than was absolutely necessary. He glanced slightly over his shoulder to see Shikamaru (who was now bathed and ready to head out with a little red backpack full of supplies in case something happened and a sleeping bag slung over his shoulder) stop and start talking to Naruto. _Damn it!_

"Well, I was just looking for a spot myself. I thought maybe the one by the entrance might be nice..." Sasuke took a few steps past her and then looked back, as if asking her to join him. His chosen cave was next to the one by the entrance and he needed to get her attention away from it. She turned gullibly and followed without question.

"Should the girls or the boys bathe first?" It wasn't something he gave a damn about, but it was the only question to pop into his mind. Sakura, on the other hand, was delighted that he wanted to talk out a possible issue with her. If he took charge of the situation he'd be like the temporary leader, and if he talked through problems with her that would make her like his queen, right?

"I think the girls should go first, but it might be best to put it up to a vote." If the Haruno were being honest, she just didn't want to be covered in filth for even a second longer. Especially when Sasuke was around and talking to her.

Unbeknownst to her though, the Uchiha had glanced over his shoulder and seen Shikamaru leaving and Naruto entering the cave next to his with a beat up old orange duffle bag slung over his shoulder.

"Hn." Sasuke nodded at whatever she said and started heading back. The pink-haired medic followed and continued to pester the man for his opinion until he entered his cave. With a huff of annoyance mixed with determination, Sakura turned to enter the cave next to his, only to find a certain blonde there.

"What are you doing?" She asked, her voice tinged with aggravation. It was obvious what he was doing, something she thought he shouldn't be.

"Oh, I was just-"

"This is my... room," the slight pause before she called the small, decrepit cave her room didn't go unnoticed.

"Your stuff isn't here." Naruto had lost much of that special something that he had when he was a kid, but every now and then he would forget himself and the words he would've openly spoken as a child came out. He thought about apologizing but couldn't bring himself to when she had such a snobbishly offended look on her face. She reminded him of the villagers back home. All stuck up and looking down on him. So he shrugged unrepentantly when she paused, waiting for an apology that would never come.

"That-"

"What are you, a stalker?" The girl whipped around at the sound of that mellow voice she knew to be Sasuke's and immediately denied the claim, words falling out of her mouth until she talked herself into a corner, stumbling into the self-imposed promise to choose the dwelling furthest from her crush in order to prove her sanity.

Her actions, though highly regretted by the girl herself, caused a bit of a trend. The girls of the group chose caves on one side of their temporary home, and the boys went for caves on the other. With Naruto on the right-hand side of their shelters entrance and Sasuke next to him, it was decided that Shikamaru would get the next cave over.

After that came Gaara, Chōji, and Kiba in that order in the three caves following the Nara's. The next cave was left empty and the one next to that was the smallest and held all the luggage, which had been separated between what they could use and what they were simply saving for the families of the deceased. Beyond that was the tunnel leading to the hot spring.

Ino and Temari were in the two caves that followed, and Hinata and Hanabi shared the next cave. Which left Sakura, who'd skipped a couple caves beyond theirs and settled for the one on the opposite side of the entrance from Naruto's.

After that was decided and everyone had settled in, they all came out to see that someone had started a fire in the center of their new home. The smoke filtered out of a hole in the roof that they heard odd ruffling noises coming from.

"Gaara's setting up a little awning and tiny wall around that so if it rains the water won't get in." Temari, who'd been working on the fire, explained before anyone got nervous.

"It's not going to rain with how hot it is out there." Sakura furrowed her eyebrows at what she saw as a stupid waste of time.

"It gets colder underground, and the daylight won't last forever." Temari shrugged, trying her best not to get annoyed. She just had to treat the poor idiot girl like one of those snobbish dignitaries who knew nothing about surviving in hot climates. She'd only lost her temper once and punched that one moron, but he was a handsy idiot so that didn't count. She could withstand Sakura's stupidity... Probably.

"We're not gonna be here that long. We'll probably be found pretty quickly considering we've got the Kazekage, his top advisor and an Uchiha with-" Crap, the girl had forgotten she'd been feigning ignorance on the whole Uchiha fame thing. "Er, I mean-" She glanced over at Sasuke to see he'd raised an annoyed eyebrow at her. Well shit.

"Just because there are famous people around doesn't mean we'll be found faster, and the sun's already going down. We'll probably be found tomorrow at best." Temari shrugged, unaware of the pinkette's mistake. Sakura was blushing and Naruto quickly moved the conversation to something else, trying his best to push down his curiosities about how the Uchiha was famous.

"We found a bunch of bath products, so the girls should probably go ahead and bathe." He sighed, scratching the back of his head and feeling his fingers catch on little clumps of dried blood. "We'll all feel better after getting out of these dirty clothes." Thankfully, none of the boys were overly concerned about bathing order, and the girls were happy enough to take first place.

Naruto sighed, God he was tired.


End file.
